How policy schools can rebuild public trust by serving communities over mandates.
Gallup put confidence in higher education at 38% in June 2026, well above the 17% who trusted the federal government in September 2025, yet both measures have eroded over the past decade.
That gap drew sharper scrutiny after the U.S. Department of Education's 2026 "Call to Action" asked colleges to publish answers aligned with administration priorities as a route to public trust.
For public policy schools, the operating question is whether legitimacy can be earned through demonstrated service to communities and students rather than through political compliance.
Confidence in higher education rose from 36% in 2023 and 2024 to 42% in July 2025,1 then slipped to 38% in June 2026.2 Vanderbilt's Unity Poll recorded 47% confidence and a net positive rating of +33 in September 2025, up 13 points since 2023.3 Direct 2025-2026 confidence percentages for federal, state, and local government are not published side by side in those same polls, so the two sectors cannot be assumed to move in lockstep. Within higher education, trust also diverges: public colleges registered 46% confidence versus private colleges at 30% in mid-2025,4 a pattern that suggests mission and accessibility matter more than prestige. These gaps do not mean higher education is uniformly trusted; they mean trust is layered and varies by institution type.
Government confidence is filtered through partisanship, election cycles, and visible service delivery failures. Higher education is judged on whether it expands opportunity and prepares students for work. Local government often enjoys more warmth than federal agencies because it is embedded in daily life. Public universities and community colleges occupy a similarly proximate role, and their trust levels reflect that closeness.
A University World News report on the US Secretary of Education's 2026 Call to Action shows federal officials framing compliance with administration priorities as a route to public trust. The American Association of Colleges and Universities draws a different line, arguing that government trust and public trust are not identical. Meeting federal demands on affordability, grade inflation, or workforce preparation does not automatically answer what communities say they need from evidence-based policymaking. Public policy school curricula that confuse the two risk optimizing for the wrong audience, and the wrong feedback loop.
Prestige does not translate directly into public confidence, and the polling makes that tradeoff explicit: the institutions often seen as most elite are not the ones the public trusts most.
In 2024, 36% of Americans expressed high confidence in higher education.1 By 2025 that rose to 42%, but the recovery split by party: 61% of Democrats, 41% of independents, and 26% of Republicans, according to Gallup's 2025 public trust reading. For four-year colleges specifically, the gap widens to 66% for Democrats, 40% for independents, and 26% for Republicans. In 2026 the numbers drifted down again, with Democrats at 50%, independents at 39%, and Republicans at 23%.2
Still, about 75% of Americans retain at least some confidence, including 65% of Republicans and 87% of Democrats.3 Pew Research Center's 2024 survey shows 74% of Democrats see colleges positively versus 31% of Republicans; conservative Republicans are far more negative (20% positive) than moderate or liberal Republicans (53%).
A December 2024 Data for Progress poll found community colleges and regional public universities each enroll roughly 40% of American college students and are the most popular with the public, while Ivy League institutions are the least popular. Two-year institutions recovered more Republican confidence between 2024 and 2025, rising 12 points, a sign that proximity and practical mission matter.
Edelman's 2024 barometer puts government trust at 40% in the United States, 42% in Germany, and 30% in the United Kingdom. Government is distrusted in 17 countries tracked. Higher education is not benchmarked separately in those global indexes, but the pattern is consistent: trust is higher for institutions that feel close to daily life, not for distant national bodies.
Community colleges enroll about 40% of American college students and draw higher public trust than Ivy League institutions. A community college president explained: "We're in a sailboat," while research universities need "a thousand years to turn around that Titanic."
Compliance with a federal agenda is one path. Earning confidence from students, families, and communities is another. The AAC&U report distinguishes these as government trust and public trust, and they do not move together.
Public trust reflects whether people believe colleges and universities are trustworthy, valuable, and accountable.1 Government trust reflects confidence in a federal administration and its priorities.2 The two can diverge. Public trust is anchored in value, accountability, inclusive excellence, and community engagement. Government trust tracks political alignment and policy making priorities.
As the report notes, the administration's criticisms of higher education are not necessarily the same things the public is worried about.3 The 2026 federal Call to Action asks institutions to answer for student protests, intellectual diversity, grade inflation, foreign influence, affordability, and workforce preparation. Those topics track executive branch priorities, but they do not automatically map to local needs, student support, or community accountability.
Skeptics sometimes say "trust is not an academic value."4 The AAC&U framework rejects that view. Trust in higher education is earned confidence, not blind deference. It grows when institutions demonstrate inclusive excellence, accelerate innovation, prioritize community engagement, and tell a clearer story about value.5
For public administration and policy schools, the implication is direct. Public trust is not created by checking federal boxes or responding to a national call for compliance. It is built through relational, mission-driven service that shows institutions are accountable to students, employers, and local communities, not just to Washington. Public policy schools should treat government directives as one stakeholder signal, not the definition of legitimacy.
Community colleges build trust by being physically present, open-enrollment, and directly tied to local workforce and family needs. In Gallup-Lumina polling from 2024, 48% of Americans expressed high confidence in community colleges compared with 33% for four-year institutions, and 58% trusted community college affordability versus just 11% for four-year colleges. That gap is not accidental.
Bunker Hill Community College in Boston frames the responsibility differently than selective universities. An administrator told AAC&U, "it's our responsibility to be student ready, not for the student to be college ready." President Pam Eddinger broadened the point: "Community colleges are of the moment, of the living." This multigenerational, place-based mission builds relational trust, while Ivy League institutions rank lowest in public favor in December 2024 Data for Progress polling.
Direct state government trust comparisons remain limited, but community colleges benefit from proximity in ways distant state agencies often do not. State higher education funding reflects that tension: total state support reached $126.5 billion in FY2024, up 10.2%1, yet two-year institutions saw per-FTE appropriations fall 3.3% while four-year institutions rose 1.8%.2 Policy schools should read this as a warning: trust at the community level does not automatically convert into stable funding.
Policy schools occupy a distinctive position in the current trust landscape. Public trust in the federal government stood at 17 percent in September 2025, and among Democrats it dropped to 9 percent by December 2025, near historic lows.1 Yet higher education institutions, particularly community colleges and regional public universities, retain stronger public confidence. The gap is not abstract for students pursuing an MPA or MPP degree. Graduates with that degree move into local government management, policy analysis, budgeting, and program leadership, where their legitimacy depends on both technical competence and public confidence.
The response inside public administration education is becoming more explicit about democracy and trust. NASPAA's Code of Ethics requires honesty, transparency, and professionalism2, and its 2025 communication plans promised year-round updates, virtual meetings, and published agendas to support schools under political pressure.3 The University of Kansas School of Public Affairs & Administration has called for explicit democratic standards in accredited programs, arguing that the NASPAA brand should be firmly rooted in democratic traditions.4 Faculty proposals include teaching positive public administration that highlights effective government practices and reduces administrative burdens5, as well as preparing administrators to act as "conservators of democracy."6 Recommended topics now include politics and administration, budgeting uncertainty, and low-capacity organizations in continual crisis.7
The University World News analysis shows why mission-driven local service matters more than federal alignment. The AAC&U distinction between public trust and government trust suggests that the public's concerns are not identical to a federal agency's compliance agenda. Community colleges model relational trust by being "student ready" rather than demanding students be college ready. The metaphor is apt: a community college can turn like a sailboat while a research institution reacts like a Titanic. Policy schools can outperform government agencies on trust only by emphasizing competence, community engagement, and evidence use, not by aligning with top-down political demands. That is the practical lesson for the next generation of public administrators.
